Posts Tagged: NEXUS

What Is Music?

Posted by

One of two large sets of Woodstock Chimes suspended over the audience in Disney Hall for the Takemitsu Concerto with NEXUS and the Los Angeles Philharmonic

On the first day of music history class at the Oberlin Conservatory in 1967, our professor asked, “What is music?”. It was like a Zen kōan, and everybody contemplated it for the rest of the semester. We continued to learn music of the classical European repertoire, but I don’t remember if there was an answer to… Read more »

Experimental Music – Questions and Responses (August, 2021)

Posted by

When an unexpected email arrived from a student I had met only one time two-years earlier.  Here was the student’s question: “For my music course, we have a unit called “Experimenting with Music”, which contains exploration and composition using a variety of musical instrumentation, techniques, or theories. I am amazed by how you and contemporary… Read more »

The new DRUMMING at 50 Website

Posted by

DRUMMINGat50 Website

We are excited to share with you a brand new website, www.DRUMMINGat50.com, that NEXUS has created in partnership with Sō Percussion, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Steve Reich’s monumental work “Drumming”. Russell Hartenberger, Ray Dillard, and Alex Kessaris have been working for months to bring this to its fruition. A full performance of the piece,… Read more »

NEXUS at Fifty: Part 8

Posted by

#NEXUSat50   1984   FOUR MONTH WORLD TOUR: CHINA!   In May we embarked on a tour that would take us to 10 countries. This meant putting a great many other things in Life on hold – but what an opportunity! We began in China where we were the first Western percussion group to perform in the People’s… Read more »

NEXUS at Fifty: Part Seven

Posted by

#NEXUSat50    1982    PLAYING WITH POETRY    We spent 3 days at Toronto’s McClear Place with 78-year-old poet Earle Birney, recording a 3 volume set. Released in LP and audio cassette format, they have never been re-issued as CDs, but 2 of the poems were included in our later “The Best of NEXUS” CD.              We had… Read more »

NEXUS AT FIFTY: Part One

Posted by

GUESS WHAT! NEXUS is celebrating its 50th season! To celebrate, over the coming year we’re going to bring you snapshots of each year in our career. We have been posting weekly on our Facebook and Instagram feeds: Fifty years, fifty weeks! Every now and then, we will amalgamate the latest posts and place them here… Read more »

An Update from NEXUS

Posted by

Hi all. We hope all of you are keeping well and STAYING HOME! All of us here are doing fine. Thank you to all of you who have continued to visit our Facebook page, and to our new Facebook followers who have come on board in the last few weeks. There have been quite a… Read more »

NEW ! E-Books by Bill Cahn

Posted by

* To order online: 1) place order by email to:    billcahn@aol.com  OR by phone/text to:  (585) 354-5843     2) a link to DropBox will be emailed back to you     3) the DropBox link will enable you to download the digital book (pdf file)     4) an invoice payable in 10-days… Read more »

From Trampolines to Timpani

Posted by

Q: What’s the difference between trampolines and timpani?A: You don’t have to take your shoes off when you jump on timpani. Trampolines and timpani have a few things in common. They both have membranes, are fun to play on, and you can impress people of the opposite sex if you are good at either one…. Read more »

Recordings! Seminars! Premieres! & a Hall of Fame!

Posted by

It’s Spring – and a LOT is happening. Russell Hartenberger has been at Virginia Tech workshopping his new piece “Magic Time” commissioned by Escape Ten. Tonight (May 4th) is the premiere. The duo is performing “Magic Time” on marimba with a quintet (the Virginia Tech Percussion Ensemble ) performing on tuned cymbals newly created for… Read more »

Zwilich talks about writing “Rituals” for NEXUS

Posted by

In honour of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich birthday, here is an interview where she shares her thoughts on writing this concerto Rituals for NEXUS. Frank Oteri at New Music Box calls the interview Goose Bumps In The Candy Shop. Ellen has some intriguing comments about percussion instruments and their intrinsic nature: FJO: My favorite piece of… Read more »

Giving Thanks for all YOUR help! Drumming At 50

Posted by

Here in Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving on Monday, October 8. What more fitting time to give a BIG THANK YOU to all of you who contributed to our Kickstarter Campaign for Drumming At 50.  September was definitely exciting – if a bit nerve-wracking! We were fund-raising for our Video Recording with Sō Percussion and friends… Read more »

Help us Kickstart DRUMMING’s 50th anniversary!

Posted by

Epic. Exhilarating. Revolutionary. Iconic.  Words that describe Steve Reich’s monumental DRUMMING. Russell Hartenberger had a thought. And now that thought has evolved into an exciting project, backed 100% by Steve Reich: We have joined with the wonderful Sō Percussion to create a videography of DRUMMING in celebration of the piece’s 50th Anniversary!

September 4-6 at Ithaca College: Come join us for Free Events!

Posted by

From Sept. 4 through 6, NEXUS will be kicking off Ithaca College’s school year with a series of exciting events. All PRESENTATIONS (INCLUDING THE Sept. 6th CONCERT) ARE FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC as well as to the Ithaca students. We are thrilled that Gordon Stout, (marimbist, composer, and educator – lucky Ithaca College!),… Read more »

×